Natural Methods for Cleaning Indoor Air

The best methods for purifying and refreshing your indoor air when you have bad air days requires a way to remediate this situation so that it will not be affecting you, your kids’ and your family’s health.

Your indoor air can be as bad as or worse than the air outside. The air pollution in your house can cover every room in the total house. It is reversible.

These pollutants can be coming from gas-fired equipment such as a gas forced-air furnace, a gas hot water heater, wood or gas burning fireplaces, a gas cook stove, a gas/propane/kerosene heating unit. Other sources of contaminants are dust mites, pet dander and hair, mold and mildew—which are allergens. We dread closing up the house for winter even though the “fresh” air is not that fresh. The yearlong allergens are 10-100% higher inside buildings than out of doors. Gas emits particles in the air as well.

This can cause sore throats, coughing, itchy and watering eyes, shortness of breath, and cause people with asthma to have dangerous attacks. Colds can last longer, you can have headaches you never had before, and bronchitis where you cough all the time. The following are things you can do to improve the air inside your home.

Provide ventilation. To not bring in the bad outdoor air try trickle ventilation. The filters go on windows and they bring fresh filtered air into your house and send polluted indoor air out.

In the summer, run the air conditioner and install HEPA filters.

Keep your pets outside and don’t allow them in your bedroom where you spend 8 hours breathing the air they have contaminated with their dander and hair.

Vacuum and dust your house to rid it of mites, dander, and hair.

If you smoke, do it outdoors. Second-hand smoke is not good for non-smokers.

Have a diffuser run with pleasant aromas after you’ve done your dusting.

Natural Ways to Clean Bad Indoor Air with Essential Oils

During the winter, we are indoors much of the time sealed into offices, grocery stores, similar to an airplane recirculating the same air breathed by all the passengers. We are breathing in everyone’s exhaled air. There’s not much you can do about an airplane or grocery store, but you can remediate the air in your home, office cubicle or enclosed office with a door.

Some of the top essential oils for cleaning and purifying the air follows (not in any order).

Pure Aura Cacia essential oil is as the top of the list.

white camphor

eucalyptus

citrus: grapefruit, lemon, lime, sweet orange, tangerine

frankincense

tea tree

myrtle

herbs: thyme, sage, wild marjoram, rosemary, oregano

myrrh

spices: ginger, peppermint

hyssop

juniper berry

pine

lavender

lemongrass

wintergreen

helichrysum (sunflower family)

balsam fir needle

A mixture, or blend, will be effective providing you with nice aromas. Mix herbs with woodsy and citrus for balance.

Put the oils into your diffuser as directed by the manufacturer. Some units add oils to water and some add oils to pads. Experimentation is fun and beneficial at the same time. Research online for recipes and methods. Try 5 drops eucalyptus, 5 drops frankincense, and 6 drops of lemon. Add to your diffuser as you do your other essential oils and you will find your air refreshed smelling clean.

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